TWIST, v.t.

1. A cord, thread or any thing flexible, formed by winding strands or separate things round each other.
2. A cord; a string; a single cord.
3. A contortion; a writhe. Addison.
4. A little roll of tobacco.
5. Manner of twisting. Arbuthnot.
6. A twig. [Not in use.]

To be contorted or united by winding round each other. Some strands will twist more easily than others.

1. To unite by winding one thread, strand or other flexible substance round another; to form by convolution, or winding separate things round each other; as, to twist yarn thread. So we say, to double and twist.
2. To form into a thread from many fine filaments; as, to twist wool or cotton.
3. To contort; to writhe; as, to twist a thing into a serpentine form. Pope.
4. To wreathe; to wind; to encircle. Pillars of smoke twisted about with wreaths of flame. Burnet.
5. To form; to weave; as, to twist a story. Shak.
6. To unite by intertexture of parts; as, to twist bays with ivy. Waller.
7. To unite; to enter by winding; to insinuate; as, avarice twists itself into all human concerns.
8. To pervert; as, to twist a passage in an author.
9. To turn from a straight line.

1. To contort] to writhe; to complicate; to crook spirally; to convolve.
   
   

   Twist it into a serpentine form. Pope.

2. To be contorted; to writhe; to be distorted by torsion; to be united by winding round each other; to be or become twisted; as, some strands will twist more easily than others.
3. The act of twisting; a contortion; a flexure; a convolution; a bending.
   
   

   Not the least turn or twist in the fibers of any one animal which does not render them more proper for that particular animal's way of life than any other cast or texture. Addison.

4. Act of imparting a turning or twisting motion, as to a pitched ball; also, the motion thus imparted; as, the twist of a billiard ball.
5. Hence, to turn from the true form or meaning; to pervert; as, to twist a passage cited from an author.
6. To follow a helical or spiral course; to be in the form of a helix.
7. The form given in twisting.
   
   

   [He] shrunk at first sight of it; he found fault with the length, the thickness, and the twist. Arbuthnot.

8. A strong individual tendency, or bent; a marked inclination; a bias; -- often implying a peculiar or unusual tendency; as, a twist toward fanaticism.
9. To distort, as a solid body, by turning one part relatively to another about an axis passing through both; to subject to torsion; as, to twist a shaft.
10. That which is formed by twisting, convoluting, or uniting parts.
    
    
    Specifically: --

    (a)

11. To wreathe; to wind; to encircle; to unite by intertexture of parts.
    
    
    "Longing to twist bays with that ivy." Waller.

    There are pillars of smoke twisted about wreaths of flame. T. Burnet.

12. A twig.
    
    
    [Obs.] Chaucer. Fairfax.

    Gain twist, or Gaining twist (Firearms), twist of which the pitch is less, and the inclination greater, at the muzzle than at the breech. -- Twist drill, a drill the body of which is twisted like that of an auger. See Illust. of Drill. -- Uniform twist (Firearms), a twist of which the spiral course has an equal pitch throughout.

13. To wind into; to insinuate; -- used reflexively; as, avarice twists itself into all human concerns.
14. To unite by winding one thread, strand, or other flexible substance, round another; to form by convolution, or winding separate things round each other; as, to twist yarn or thread.
    
    
    Shak.
15. Hence, to form as if by winding one part around another; to wreathe; to make up.
    
    

    Was it not to this end
    That thou began'st to twist so fine a story? Shak.

16. To form into a thread from many fine filaments; as, to twist wool or cotton.